Friday, 19 July 2013

Autism, gut problems and oxidative stress

I'm still a rank amateur when it comes to talking about many aspects of autism research. Mitochondrial dysfunction remains a particularly curious area of research to me as I might have mention previously, but other areas are equally as baffling.

I therefore approach the paper by Phillip Gorrindo and colleagues* (open-access) with some degree of trepidation, and their suggestion that the presence of gastrointestinal (GI) issues appearing alongside cases of autism might very well be implicated in the whole oxidative stress area.

Some of you might remember the name Phillip Gorrindo and the excellent study** he was involved with suggesting that when mums and dads of children with autism talk about GI or bowel problems presenting in their children, professionals may do well to listen to them rather than fobbing them off as merely being 'non-experts'. By saying this I'm implying that parents are partners when it comes to identifying such issues as they are in other areas.

In this latest paper - which again has some media attention attached to it - we are told of three reasons why the authors chose to look at autism, GI issues and oxidative stress based on (i) the gut and brain possessing a "likely shared susceptibility to insults", (ii) that old mitochondrial ticket (see here again), and (iii) the links already made between autism and oxidative stress. The inclusion of the GI bit stems, I assume, from the previous focus of the author's work and quite a large volume of other research looking at GI issues and oxidative stress (see here for example) outside of autism.

So:

Four groups of participants were included for study: ASD+GI issues (n=27), ASD alone (n=29), GI issues with no ASD (n=21) and an "unaffected" group (n=10). GI issues by the way, were defined as functional GI issues (constipation, reflux, IBS, abdominal pain).

Blood samples were provided by participants and plasma levels of F2-Isoprostanes were analysed blind via GC-MS (although not seemingly based on accurate mass).

Results: well, in all clinical groups, including the GI issues only group, mean levels of F2-IsoPs were above that seen in the unaffected control group.

Group levels of F2-IsoPs were significantly greater in the ASD+GI group compared with the ASD alone group (p=0.007), although the ASD+GI group and GI issues with no ASD group were not significantly different from one and another.

Plasma triglyceride measurements also suggested that compared to the unaffected control group, the other groups all presented with elevations.

As well as looking at just the biochemistry side of things, the authors also noted that when it came to looking at "social impairment", the ASD+GI group seemed to fare considerably worse than the other groups.

The authors conclude that: "individuals with co-occurring ASD and GID [gastrointestinal dysfunction] may exhibit clinical phenotypes that are sufficiently distinct from children with ASD".

I personally would have liked to have seen other markers linked to oxidative stress and its defences also measured and reported in this study. That very big elephant in the room that is glutathione is perhaps an important marker for future work in this area. I happened also to stumble across this article by Sido and colleagues***** (open-access) which talked about glutathione and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which might very possibly be relevant to those cases of autism where functional GI issues are part and parcel of something altogether more complicated (see here). Indeed the focus in the Sido article on cysteine brings us back to another important, if slightly under-rated, autism research avenue: sulphate (or sulfate if you wish).

Gorrindo P (2013). Enrichment of Elevated Plasma F2t-Isoprostane Levels in Individuals with Autism Who Are Stratified by Presence of Gastrointestinal Dysfunction PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068444

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Questioning Answers

About Me

I have been involved in autism research for more years than I care to remember. My Questioning Answers blog (http://questioning-answers.blogspot.com/) is a place to describe and discuss various research into autism spectrum and related conditions. My Gutness Gracious Me blog (http://gutness-gracious-me.blogspot.com/) is for discussions on various gastrointestinal research. I make no recommendations, I am not giving any medical advice, I am not formulating any specific opinions and do not want to get into any ethical, political or religious debates. I am not trying to change anyone's opinions, views, beliefs or anything else. These are purely blogs about science and research in autism and a few other interesting things. Any posts I make are my own opinions and not reflective of any organisation I am affiliated to. Keep in mind that science deals with probabilities not absolutes.

ABOUT AUTISM SPECTRUM CONDITIONS

Autism or autism spectrum conditions describe several presentations characterised by core issues with social affect and stereotyped or repetitive actions. Diagnosis is made by observation and analysis of developmental history. These are heterogeneous conditions which can carry various co-morbidities and whilst described as life-long are affected by age and maturation. Autism means different things to different people. To some it means a need for life-long support. To others it is part of the varied tapestry of humanity. To all it means a need to foster a welcoming society with appropriate support and opportunities.